Vehicle-towing mechanism



July 10,11923- Re.` 15,6455

s. E. LAWRENCE VEHICLE TOWING MECHNISM v original Filed Feb. 11,'1919 2sheets-Sheet 1 July l0, 1923- Re. 15,649

s. E. LAWRENCE VEHICLE TowI'NG MEGHANISM I original Filed Feb. 11. 19192 sheets-sheet 2 l 'A ga fzf/ @2047@2m- WW Reissued July 10, 1923.

UNITED STATES SAMUEL E. LAWRECE, OF SAYBROOK, ILLINOIS.

VEHICLE-TONING MECHANISM.

Original No. 1,307,781, dated June 24, 1919, Serial No. 276,397, filedFebruary 11, 1919.

reissue led March l1, 1920.

To all 'whom it may concer/n.:

Be it known that I, SAMUEL E. LAWRENCE, a citizen of the United States,residing at Saybrook, in the county of McLean and State of Illinois,have invented new and use ful Improvements in Vehicle Towing Mechanisms,ot which the following is a specification.

The invention relates to towing1 mechanisms whereby two vehicles may betowed behind a tractor, said towed vehicles being" preferably a cornpicker and a wagon, into which wagon, the corn from the vcorn picler isdeposited by means ot a conveyor.

A. I further object is to provide towing means whereb7 the tractor willtow a corn picker and wagon, maintainingf the same in parallel relationas the tractor advances, also to provide means whereby the 'front wheelsof the corn picker and wagon will be moved in unison when the tractorturns or moves out of a straight course.

A further object is to provide a two vehicle towing device, whereby twovehicles may be towed in parallel' relation and to provide means wherebythe iront wheels of the towed vehicles will be capable of adjustmentrelative to each other so as to insure the straight running direction ofeach towed vehicle in parallell relation to each other: also to providemeans whereby the towed vehicles may be towed at different distancesfrom each other.

With the above and other objects in view the invention resides inthecombination and arrangement of parts as hereinafter set forth, shownin the drawings and claimed., it being; understood th at changes in theprecisefembodiment of the invention may be made within the scope oi'what is claimed without departing from the spirit of the. iuvention.

In the drawings- Fig. 1 is a plan view of a portion of a tractor,showing the towed vehicles and towing mechanism.

Fig. 2 is a perspective view of the towing mechanism.

Referring to the drawings, the numeral I designates a conventional formof farm trac tor and 2 a conventional form of corn picker. The cornpicker 2 is of that type wherein-the cornl is pulled by means of rollers3 which rollers grasp and pull the corn 4. The corn after being pickedpasses through the picker,

Application for Serial No. 363,323.

beiner eventually deposited on a conveyor 5, over which it travels,being deposited in the wagon G when it leaves the end oi? the conveyor.It will be seen that it is necessary to keep the wagon 6, as the cornpickerv advances in parallel relation to the discharge en d ot theconveyor 5. rllhe present practice is to pull the corn picker by meansot a tractor 0r horses and to pull the wagon by horses. This requiresthe use of many horses and a number of men, however the vehicle towingmechanism is designed to eliminate the use oi horses and reduce thenumber of men necessary to operate the same to a minimum.

Pivotally secured on a bolt 7. which passes through one of the holes 8of a clevis 9 on the rear of the tractor 1, is the end 10 of a.rearwardl;T ertending bar 11. The bar has its end 12 pivoted upon thebolt 13, which passes through an aperture therein and also throughapertures in the bars 141 and 15. rIhe bars 14E and 15 have their otherends secured to the corn picker tongue 16 as shown atl? and 18, therebyrigidly holding the bars which form a bracket. for the pivotn ing); endof the bar 11.

A chain 19 for bitching to the wagon is pro-vided. this chain having ahook 20 at o-ne of its ends adapted to engage any of the apertures Brotthe clevis 9', while its other end is provided with a pair of hookedmembers 21 which are adapted to engage over the axle 22 oi the wagon 6.Both the wagon and corn picker are of the usual construction and areprovided with the usual front turning gears 23 and '24, which pivot onking bolts 25 and 26 there being wheels 27 and 28 which turn from sideto side as the turning; mechanisms are pivoted on the king bolts.

The picker and wagon are placed in parallel relation and lat the desireddistance from each other, the bar 11, secured to the bolt 13 and thehoolr21 of the chain 19 secured to the axle of the wagon, the other endsof the bar 11 and chain 19 are then secured. to the clevis 9 on thetractor'.A `While in this position the tongues 29 and 30 ofthe pickerare placed in parallel relation with the direction ofmovement of thetractor. "When in this position a bolt 31 ispassed through one oi theapertures 32 of a barv 33, which is pivotally secured as at 34 tothetongue 29 of the picker and formsmeans whereby the tongue 29 is moved toone side or the other as the tractor changes its course.

har 'y'l: is ln'ovided for moving` the tongue 3() ol the wagon, this harcominises a hooked end 35 which passes through anyY ol' the apertures B6in thi` bar li. lts other end is provided with arms -i, which Forni ntlshapcd member i'or the reception ol| the wagon tongue. (lne ol thearms ii' has threaded therein a set screw SES wherelrv the tongue may beclamped securely in the U- shaped ineinher. 'lhe set screw is providedwith an eye 3E) and to this eye is secured one end of :i chain el-(,while the other end olt tln.l chain is provided with a. hooked member 4ladapted to engage the hodjvY olf the wagon and support the tongue.

lt will he seen that by i'neans ot the bnr ll. and chain .19, th at theti'nved 'vehicles will be moved forwardly as the tractor advances, alsothat during this forward movement the bars 2353 and 34T will vmaintainthe tongues 2Q and 30 ot.' the picker and wagon in proper position sothat they will'lmep in parallel relation to each other as the tractor:id-- vannes. However, it will also be seen that ii' the tractor .movesor turns to either side the hars 33 and 34 will be moved so that thetongues ot the picker and wagon, will be turned in the proper directionso that the same will follow the tractor.J remaining in their parallelrelation.

1When it is desired to adjust the tongues to different positions, itwill only7 be necessary to move the hooked end of the bar to one of theapertures '36 and remove the bolt Bi and adjust the bar 33, so that thebolt 3l may be passed through any of the apertures 32 and 11a. A furtheradjustment ot the mechanism may be attained bv adjusting the hook 2O ofthe. chain 19 and end l0 oit the bar 1l to arri7 of the apertures S olithe clevis 9.

The invention having been set forth, what is claimed as new and usefulis:

1. A vehicle towingdevice comprising a bar and a flexible chain or cablehavingl one of their ends adjustably connected to the rear end of atowing vehicle, their other ends connected to tivo parallel disposed vehicles to be towed in parallel relation to each other, pivoted barspivotally connected to the tongues of the vehicles and `adjustalolyConnected to the first n'ientioned har so that the tongues of thevehicles will he turned when the towing vehicie turns to either side.

2. A vehicle 'towing dei'fice comprising a ban and a flexible chain orcable having one of their ends pivotally connected to the rear end of atowing vehicle, their other endspivotally connected to vehicles inparallel relation toeach other, said vehicles being provided with frontturning gears having tongues', tongue guiding bars pivotally conl nectedto the tongues at one 'of their ends and their other ends adjustablyconnected to the first mentioned bar so that the front.

turning gear ol' thel towed vehicles may he adjusted relaiive lo eachother, said tongue hars 'toi-mimi; menus \.hereh v the longues of thevehicles will hc turned in the direction oi' turn ol' the towingvehicle.

il. i vehicle towing derive ronign'hdng a her :and :i ilevihlc rheinhaving one olA lheir ends zuljnslallr connec'd to the rear end ol" atmring vehicle, their other ends pivotally connected lo vehicles to hetowed in inrallcl r-:ilaticn lo earh other. said adjnsta-hle connec ionoi" the har and chain to the rear end oi the towii'l; vehicle allowing`'Forward and rearward adjusting oiz the parallell vehicles relative toeach other, said vehicles being lprovided with ifront turning gearshaving tongues.. tongue guiding bars having one of their ends connectedto the tongues oi the vehicles and their other' ends connected to thelirst mentioned bar, said 'first mentioned har being provided with aseries oit apertures whereby the inner ends of the tongue hars 'may beadjusted so that the tongues olf the vehicles may be adjusted relativeto each other so that the vehicles may be placed nearer together inparallel relation or itarther apart in parallel relation and meanswht-rein7 one of the tongues may 'loe supported. i

fl. In a vehicle towing device, in combination, an attachment memberapplied to a draft vehicle, a draft memher, its forward end pivotallvconnected therewith and its rear end pivotallv connected with. atrailing' vehicle, a 'guiding bar connecting the tongue member oi thetrailing vehicle in an adjustable relation with the'draft bar at a pointintermediate the 'ends oi the latter, whereby relative steering maj;7 beeffected between the draft vehicle and the trailing' vehicle, a seconddraft member connected with the attachment bar and adapted to beconnected with a second training vehicle having suspended tongue, andaspacing and steering har connecting the first draft member with thetongue `portion of the second trailing vehicle to effect relativespacing of the Vehicles and to compensate for variations of travelthereof with respect toa common plane.v

dln a 'vehicle towing device, 'in comhination, an attachment memberapplied toal draft vehicle, a draft member, its Vforward end pivotalljfconnected therewith auditsrear end pivotally connected with a trailingvehicle, a guiding bar connecting the tongue member of the trailingvehicle in an adinstablel relation with the draft bar at a pointintermediate the ends of the latter, whereby relative steering may beeffected between the draft vehicle and the trailing vehicle, a seconddraft member connect-ed with the attachment bar and adapted to beconnected with a second. trailing vehicle having suspended tongue and aspacing and steeringr bar connecting the rst draft memmeans toaccommodate relative spacing of ber with the tongue portion of theSecond the latter whereby they may be caused to trailingr vehicle in anadjustable relation, travel in parallel planes, including spacing toeffect relative spacingr of the vehicles and bars arranged relative toone of the draft 15 5 to compensate for variations of traveltheremembers and the tongues of the trailing of with respect to a commonplane. vehicles for holding them parallel to each 6. Inavehiole towingdevice, in combinaother. tion, an attachment member for a draft ve- Intestimony whereof, I have signed my hicle, a pair of draft memberspvotally conname to this specification. 1U nected therewith and adaptedfor connection respectively with a pair of trailing vehicles, S. E.LAWRENCE.

